A group of farmers who are opposed to the acquisition of their farmland by the Miaoli County Government for a science park project agreed yesterday during a mediation meeting with Premier Wu Deng-yi to consider a land swap.

A Taiwanese woman has taken a sizeable bite out of Taiwan's mosquito population, and won a US$3,000 cash prize, by catching around 4 million of the bloodsuckers in just one month.

Prosecutors in Yunlin have opened an investigation into the fire that hit a petrochemical plant of the Formosa Plastic Group (FPG).

Premier Wu Den-yih yesterday ordered the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) suspend operation at its fire-hit plant in Yunlin following protests by local people against the petrochemical giant's poor safety and environmental records.

Premier Wu Den-yih said Thursday a service center should be set up at the Formosa Plastics Group's petrochemical complex in Yunlin County to coordinate emergency responses to industrial accidents.

The construction of the Hushan Reservoir in the south-central county of Yunlin is scheduled to be completed in 2014 after the environmental issues have been resolved, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) said yesterday.

Food manufacturers of the central Yunlin County snatched orders worth well over NT$300 million at the Taipei International Food Show this year, an increase from last year's NT$200 million, said Lu Cheng-chang, agricultural chief of the Yunlin County Government, yesterday.

A retired plasterer in Yunlin County has been rearing fish on the top floor of his residence after it was flooded 17 years ago, local media reported yesterday.

Police saved a man who appeared to have tried to commit suicide by burning charcoal inside his car in Yunlin County on Thursday, local media reported.

Nearly 800 goats infected with goat pox virus (GPV) have been culled at two ranches in Yunlin County's Siluo Township in central-south Taiwan, animal health officials said yesterday.